§ MR. GIBBS (Bristol, W.)To ask the Under-Secretary of State for India if officers in the Indian police have to serve five years longer for pensions than officers in the same service in England, and do the Government intend to take any action with regard to the proposal of the Police Commission that twenty-five years service shall be the period to qualify for full pension in the Indian police; and whether other services in India are already enjoying this concession.
(Answered by Mr. Buchanan.) In the absence of medical certificate police officers in India are at liberty to retire on pension after thirty years service, or on attaining the age of fifty-five, whichever is the earlier. In England police officers are as a rule eligible for retirement on pension after twenty-five years service. As the Secretary of State said in his Answer to the hon. Member for Hull (Central Division), on 31st July, 1907, the recommendation of the Indian Police Commission on this subject was fully considered by the Government of India, who decided, to propose no alteration in the existing rules. The Secretary of State does not propose to suggest to them that the question should be reopened. In certain Departments in India retire- 1550 ment on pension is permitted after a shorter period of service than in the police.